The Dark Side of Life in Ireland

Isn't that an ominous title?  Despite all our scenic photographs and fun weekend trips, living in Ireland isn't all roses.  So I thought I'd share with my blog readers some of the things that I dislike. Shopping troubles.  Everything here is called something different, and you can't just buy the same things you're used to buying in the U.S.  Why must they call it bread soda instead of baking soda, and mince instead of ground beef?  Why are there so many different types of sugar and potatoes, and why, out of all the different kinds of canned peas, is there none called just plain "peas"?  Why are all the potato chips (crisps) in "prawn cocktail" or other strange flavors?  Why does no one in Ireland apparently use wax paper?  Why don't they refrigerate the eggs in the grocery store?  Why don't they have normal bacon like we have back home? Cooking is frustrating.  It's difficult to cook when you don't have all the cookware and utensils you're used to having at home, when the oven is tiny and a standard size cookie sheet won't fit, when you have to try to weigh all your ingredients or guess-timate because everything is metric, when you're not used to having such limited counterspace and the kitchen ends up being a complete and total mess. The lack of good baking mixes.  Apparently Irish people don't really bake (?).  The baking section in the store is ridiculously small.  And the baking mixes are just not the same.  Particularly the brownie mix.  The brownies from the mix here are more of a cake-like brownie.  Decent, but not marginally as good as a yummy American brownie. Mmmm. The roads can be quite curvy and narrow.  And the Irish drive fast.  I've been told that the theory is, on a narrow curvy road, you just drive really fast to decrease the chances that you'll meet anyone on that stretch of road.  Because you can't really see if anyone is coming towards you, and there's not enough room for two cars to pass, so someone will have to pull over and/or back up and/or get their  mirror clipped.  And many of the roads do not have shoulders, so you can't just pull over if you need to.  Which leads to... The hedges!  I despise the hedges.  Rather than shoulders, the roads typically have tall, dense hedges on either side.  So if you need to move over, your car will probably get scratched by the branches sticking out of the hedges.  And, although there are beautiful views out the side windows of the car, you can't see them because the hedges are in the way.  Plus, as you are driving on the narrow, curvy roads, you can't see if anyone is coming around the next bend because the hedges are in the way - so you just have to hope you're not about to smack into someone else's car.  What is the need for these blasted hedges anyway? Laundry - ugh, the laundry!  Now, I do not mind doing laundry normally, but our washer and dryer here are pretty tiny, and they take a long time.  What would be one load at home is two or even three loads here.  So I feel like I am constantly doing laundry.  It takes about an hour and fifteen minutes to wash a load, and drying takes forever - I usually have to have things in the dryer at least two hours and sometimes longer than that.  Three and a half or four hours just to finish one load of laundry?  Ridiculous!  Plus, our clothes tend to come out wrinkly.  Sheets wrap around each other in the dryer so you keep having to open the dryer and untangle them in order for them to dry.  I don't like having a front-loader washing machine because, invariably, I have just started the washer when I find a stray sock or something that I missed putting in it.  At home, I would just open the washing machine and throw it in.  Here, I am just out of luck and have to put it back in the laundry bag to wait for next time. Speaking of housework, our vacuum is terrible.  And I really miss my Swiffer Wetjet.  :( Eating out is expensive.  Particularly in Kinsale, it seems.  The prices would be expensive in dollars, but when you consider that they're in euros, wowza!  There are so many fabulous restaurants here and we would love to try more of them, but it really makes the pocketbook hurt. What I wouldn't give for a Redbox!  Or even a Blockbuster. There is never anything on TV.  Pretty much the only things I've watched so far have been Friends and American Idol.  I don't even turn the TV on during the day.  (One nice thing about American Idol, though, is that it's on a day later than it airs in the U.S., so I can get online and read the recap or results and then decide whether or not I want to watch part or all of the show that night.)  Our TV is tiny anyway, and far away from our couches...and we can't move it because that's the only place there's a hook-up. The library does not have much selection.  It's nice having a library, but there isn't a ton to choose from as far as the type of books that interest me.  And the bookstores are pretty pricey.  I don't want to pay 20 euros for a Paris guidebook when I think about how much I could have bought one for back home. Pigeons...I don't hate pigeons, but they roost all over our apartment complex and leave their pigeon droppings all over everything.  At least they finally scraped the dead pigeon off someone's landing after leaving it there for at least a month where we had to look at it every day.  And thanks to Ross for finally kicking the broken pigeon egg off our balcony. There are no electrical outlets in the bathrooms.  What's up with that?  Maybe it's building code because of risk of electrocution?  Probably so, because the voltage is higher here.  Inconvenient though. So there you have it.  Proof that, while there are many wonderful things about living here and we are enjoying the experience, it isn't all fun and games!  :)